Tourist arrivals in 2010 registers a 46.1% increase

Tourist arrivals has registered a 46.1% increase amounting to 654,476 arrivals last year exceeding the target set for the year of 600,000 tourists by over 50,000 arrivals. In the month of December alone the number of tourists arrived amounted to 84,627, which is an increase of 48.8% compared to the same period last year.

In the year 2009 the number of tourists arrived in the country amounted to only 447,890 tourists. With the relaxation of warning by many European countries following the vanquishing of terrorism, there has been an upsurge in the tourist arrivals in the country particularly, from the Western nations.

Last year 40,216 tourists have arrived from North America representing 21,213 from Canada and 19,093 from the United States. This was a 61.2% increased compared to 2009.

Arrivals from the Western European countries registered an upsurge of 51% compared to year 2009 and the number of tourists arrived amounted to 256,861. Majority of them amounting to 105,496 have arrived from the United Kingdom followed by 45,727 from Germany. There was a significant increase in the tourists arriving from France which amounted to 31,285 tourists.

Arrivals from the Eastern Europe amounted to 35,517 tourists of which 13,278 tourists were from Russia. Arrivals from Eastern Europe also registered a 35% increase compared to the arrivals in 2009.

Sri Lanka’s tourist industry has also consolidated its penetration to the African continent and there was a 49% increase in arrivals from this continent with majority of them being from South Africa. The number of Middle East tourists increased by 58.1% compared to the year 2009 amounting to 37,540 arrivals last year.

Arrivals from East Asia have also taken an upward trend with a 41.6% increase compared to the year 2009. Majority of East Asian tourists were from Japan amounting to 14,352 tourists followed by Malaysia numbering 13,367 tourists. There were 10,430 tourists from China and the number of Singaporeans arrived amounted to 11,875.

The number of South Asian tourists arrived amounted to 175,694 with majority of them being from India. The number of Indian tourists amounted to 126,882 followed by 35,791 tourists from Maldives and 9,148 tourists from Pakistan.

Countries in Australasia have also found Sri Lanka as a popular tourist venue and the number of Australasian tourists arrived amounted to 37,290 and 33,456 of them were from Australia. The number of New Zealanders arrived amounted to 3,487 tourists.

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority says that around four million tourists, equivalent to 20% of the countries population, would visit Sri Lanka in 2012. (niz)